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Behind the West's Miscalculations in Ukraine

U.S. Had Let Europe Take Lead in Guiding Westward Drift of Former Soviet Republic

By

Adam Entous in Washington and

Laurence Norman in Brussels

Updated March 3, 2014 10:39 p.m. ET

The U.S. ambassador was waiting in the office of then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in November, anxious for a decision that would cinch closer ties with the West, when he ran across a staffer bearing unwelcome news.

"I can't believe it. I just came from seeing the president. He's told me we're going to put the European project on pause," Mr. Yanukovych's chief of staff, Serhiy Lyovochkyn, told U.S. Ambassador...

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